Sigma Alpha Iota

Spring 2020 14 PAN PIPES HILDEGARD OF BINGEN Honey Meconi. University of Illinois Press, 2018. H ildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a truly exceptional woman, famous during her own lifetime as a spiritual authority, but in modern days recognized more as one of the earliest composers of plainchant whose identity is known. Honey Meconi's slim but substantive book provides a helpful summary of what is known about Hildegard's life as well as an overview of the music she created. Meconi begins by detailing the ways in which Hildegard was a true polymath: not only was she a spiritual leader and composer, but she possessed a deep knowledge of the natural world and medicine. She was also a diplomat, noblewoman, and philosopher. For her time in history, we know a good deal about her; she was written about during and aer her lifetime. However, much of the information available is of questionable authority and contains contradictions. Meconi is careful throughout the book to clarify her sources and their reliability. Aer relaying Hildegard's early biography, discussing her enclosure in the convent of Disibodenberg, Meconi describes a turning point in Hildegard's life. At the age of 42, she had a vision in which she was commanded to write down and share the spiritual knowledge she would receive in future visions. Eventually, Hildegard moved to the newly established community of Rupertsberg, near the town of Bingen on the Rhine River. It was there that Hildegard began to flourish and produce treatises on a variety of subjects. Meconi discusses Hildegard's musical play Ordo virtutem, her theological treatise known as Scivias, and the musical cycle Symphonie armonie celestium revelationum. She also touches on Hildegard's writing on medicine, as well as the special language and alphabet she created. An entire chapter is devoted to an analysis of the characteristics of Hildegard's music, as well as the method of notation that is used in the two major manuscripts in which her music appears. Text and subject matter, musical models, and stylistic traits such as melody, melisma, range, mode, and accidentals are explained clearly. Meconi convincingly demonstrates Hildegard's truly innovative and unique approach to composition, comparing her practices with those of her contemporaries. Meconi offers this characterization of Hildegard's music: "Her works consistently describe a universe that is ordered and harmonious... where music is the aural representation of this overarching order" (p. 86). e book concludes with a list of all Hildegard's known compositions as well as her prose works. An annotated bibliography and discography assist the reader in further research. Honey Meconi's Hildegard of Bingen provides a satisfying overview of an incomparable woman whose contributions to music still resonate with us today. REVIEWS THE ARITHMETIC OF LISTENING: TUNING THEORY & HISTORY FOR THE IMPRACTI- CAL MUSICIAN Kyle Gann. University of Illinois Press, 2019. I have to confess that microtonality in music has always intimidated me somewhat—it seems rather foreign and unknowable, and up until now I had never even considered delving into it. Kyle Gann's book, e Arithmetic of Listening, has opened my eyes, however, taking away some of the mystery I had always ascribed to this esoteric concept. Gann begins the book with a question he uses in the graduate music classes he teaches, "Why do we have twelve pitches in an octave?" He then proceeds to lay out how he plans to address this assumption and open the reader's mind to much more. He indicates that with this book, his "aim has been to speed and ease the reader into an understanding of how to employ alternate tunings in composition and performance …." One of the first topics Gann covers is why the octave as it is most commonly known came to be standard in Western music. He then covers the process of generating scales as well as different types of temperament, such as meantone, well, and twelve-step equal temperaments. He goes on to explain harmonics and how they can be employed to create a musical language beyond what is typically used in Western music. Chapters in the book are interspersed with "interludes" on historical precedents for microtonality, including Ptolemy and the ancient Greeks, as well as Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377) and Nicola Vicentino (1511-1576). Gann also provides in-depth analysis for specific works that demonstrate the concepts he discusses. e book concludes with a brief consideration of the use of microtonality in several non-Western musics: Indian, Arabic, Indonesian, and ai. Gann's book includes an extensive glossary, which I found very helpful. In addition, the text is replete with musical examples and numerical charts showing pitch ratios and relationships. e latter might prove beyond the interest or comprehension of a casual reader, although they are a testament to the author's exhaustive look at his subject. Kathi Bower Peterson, an SAI Philanthropies coordinator, is a graduate of Indiana University, where she majored in music history and was a member of Iota Epsilon chapter. She has an MM in musicology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MLIS from San Jose State University. She has been the librarian at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, CA for 22 years and currently serves as the treasurer of the San Diego County Alumnae Chapter.

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